Abstract
Most of Africa’s population is young. However, the fastest growing portion of Africa’s population is that of those aged 60 years and above. Africa’s older people suffer two common neuropsychiatric disorders namely Dementia and Depression in addition to numerous physical ailments. In the past, Africa’s elderly were treated with much reverence and respect; and Africa’s extended family system ensured their welfare whereby strong family bonds held together generations of the old, the matured, the youths and the children for the benefit of all. Today Africa is undergoing rapid demographic and socio-economic changes due to money economies, globalization, the migration of the young in search of jobs (brain drain, rural to urban migration etc.), and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Growing old, in Africa today, translates into poverty, penury and anguish. There is no official social security system and pension schemes for the few are erratic. This, therefore, leaves the burden of care of the elderly, especially those with dementia, to the family/relatives with the actual caretakers being mostly women, often daughters or younger wives. These are the ones who carry the burden of care for the majority of the old and demented in Africa, a situation which has become increasingly unsustainable. The practice of putting the elderly away in nursing homes or homes for the aged is alien and repugnant to most African cultures and ways of life. There is thus a need to revisit the traditional African family support system and modify it to suite the modern changed lifestyles and realities of today’s Africans and yet be in tune with the age-old African family system of caring for their old. The practical solution, for every African family with ageing frail parents, or grandparents, is to have a “granny apartment” and continue to care for their elderly including those with dementia and other infirmities. This way the African elderly will continue to live with their families in dignity till death and avoid the misery that, otherwise, awaits them in old age.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
National Population Policy for Social Transformation and Sustainable Development. Population Secretariat, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. Government of the Republic of Uganda. http://www.popsec.org. 2008.
UNFPA. World population prospects: the 2000 revision. New York: UN; 2001.
Nana Araba Apt. Ageing in Africa: revisiting traditional safety nets. Centre for Social Policy Studies University of Ghana, Legon. http://www.geocities.com/csps_ghana/ageing/safety.html. 2009.
Njuki C Reflections on ageing in Africa. http://www.globalaging.org/rural_aging/world/reflections.htm. 2001.
Nikolai B. Older persons in countries with economies in transition. In: Population ageing. challenges for policies and programs in developed and developing countries. UNFPA and CBGS; 1999.
Ministry of Health Report. Reducing poverty through promoting people’s health: National Health Policy II. Kampala: Government of Uganda. www.health.90.ug/national_health. 2009.
Proceeds of the IPA eleventh international congress; Aug 17–22 2003; Chicago, USA. Quoting Washington, DC: US Bureau of the Census International Database; 2003. www.census.gov world population.
Ageing in Africa: the youngest continent. World Bauh Africa Report 2013. http://www.stpt.usf.edu/~jsokolov/africabb.htm.
UNAIDS and WHO. AIDS epidemic update. World Bauh Africa Report 2013. http://www.thebody.com/unaids/update/notes.html. 2000.
Dzuka J, Dalbert C. Well-being as a psychological indicator of health in old age: a research agenda. Stud Psychol. 2000;42(1–2):61–70.
Najjumba-Mulindwa I. Chronic poverty among the elderly in Uganda: perceptions, experiences and policy issues. http://www.docs.mak.ac.ug/sites/default/files/chronicpoverty/mulindwapdf. 2003.
Nakasujja N, Musisi S, Walugembe J, et al. Psychiatric disorders among the elderly on non-psychiatric wards in an African setting. Int J Psychogeriatr. 2007;19(4):691–704.
Baiyewu O, Bella AF, Adeyemi JD, et al. Health problems and socio-demographic findings in elderly Nigerians. Afr J Med Sci. 1997;26:13–7.
Ogunniyi A, Baiyewu O, Gureje O, et al. Morbidity pattern in a sample of elderly Nigerians resident in Idikan community, Ibadan. West Afr J Med. 2001;20(4):227–31.
Sacktor N, Nakasujja N, Musisi S, Katabira E, et al. HIV subtype D is associated with dementia compared with subtype A in immuno-suppressed individuals at risk of cognitive impairment in Kampala, Uganda. Clin Infect Dis. 2009;49(5):780–6. doi:10.1086/605284.
Musisi S, Nakasujja N, Katabira E. Diagnostic, psychosocial and care profiles of elderly patients attending psychiatric outpatients at Mulago Hospital, Uganda. Symposium on brain degenerations and emerging mental health challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa; 2012 Feb 1–3. Kampala: Golf Course Hotel; 2008.
Musisi S, Nakasujja N, Byakika-Kibwika P, Katabira E. Psycho-social and demographic profiles of elderly HIV-positive patients as seen at Mildmay Centre, Uganda. Proceeds of International Psychogeriatric Association annual conference; 2009 Aug 31–Sept 4. Montreal; 2009.
Sacktor N, Wong M, Nakasujja N, Musisi S, et al. Risk factors for HIV-dementia in sub-Saharan Africa. J Neurovirol. 2004;10:S3–83.
Uganda Reach the Aged Association. Advocacy and the older persons in Uganda. 2014. https://www.globalgiving.org/ptil/114/projdoc.doc. Accessed July 2014.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Musisi, S. (2015). Caring for the Elderly with Dementia in Africa. In: Musisi, S., Jacobson, S. (eds) Brain Degeneration and Dementia in Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2456-1_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2456-1_21
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2455-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2456-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)